Labour pledge for single-sex wards delayed by £27m deficit

London patients are still being treated on mixed-sex NHS wards despite a government pledge to abolish them, it emerged today.

A £27.7 million funding shortfall means some hospitals will not scrap mixed wards, which include shared bathrooms, until next year.

In January, former health secretary Alan Johnson announced that funds would be withdrawn if hospitals continued to treat patients in mixed-sex wards beyond next March.

A total of 22 acute hospitals and primary care trusts in the capital have already reached this target, according to figures from NHS London.

But health chiefs turned down a further £27.7 million in requests from hospitals to revamp their accommodation. These, which include Lewisham Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, have now been forced to use their own budgets, meaning many will not have single-sex facilities until next March.

The problem is set to get worse as the NHS faces budget cuts of up to 10 per cent to help plug a public deficit of £175 billion.

NHS London has confirmed all 158 projects granted funding have been completed apart from three which will be ready this month.

A spokesman said the criterion for awarding funding was based on which trusts could provide the "best value for money."

Professor Trish Morris-Thompson said some patients found it "very upsetting" to stay on a mixed-sex ward. Ms Morris-Thompson, chief nurse for NHS London, said eliminating mixed-sex accommodation was a key priority.

She said: "Some patients find it very upsetting to have to stay in a mixed ward or share lavatory facilities with members of the opposite sex.

"We want to make sure that patients are automatically offered the levels of privacy they expect when in hospital, and are treated with dignity and respect at all times. Eliminating mixed-sex accommodation other than where clinically necessary is a big part of this."

But patient groups blamed bad hospital management for the fact that the changes have not been made sooner. Scrapping mixed-sex wards was a 1997 Labour manifesto pledge.

The Patients Association said people "loathe" being cared for in same-sex accommodation and it put them at risk of assault.

Kath Murphy, director of the association, said: "Despite all the rhetoric, there's still a lottery over this. We accept there are situations like very urgent care where there's not time to separate patients.

"But I can't understand why it's taking until next year to sort this. Managers should be able to manage wards appropriately."

A spokesman for NHS London said: "All other hospitals in London are on schedule to eliminate mixed sex accommodation by the national deadline and their progress is being monitored by their local PCTs."